The Beast's Curse
by CUtopia
Summary: Young and foolish Andromeda Black has to learn a hard lesson


Entry for the "Art Club" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Category:

Art

Entry for the "Hogwarts Fair 2014" - Minigolf

Dumbledore is very fond of those Muggle fairytales, and he's decided to blast the song from Beauty and the Beast, Be Our Guest. It's stuck in your head by the time you reach hole three and all you want to do is cover your ears, but if you do, how will you putt? **One chapter must be inspired from Beauty and the Beast**, or Dumbledore will just keep playing the song.

I already said it, but again a Thank You to my fellow Gryffindor Liza who suggested the character :)

I hope you like it and maybe maybe I will turn this into a multichap, so if you want to know how this goes on, favourite or follow to stay tuned :)

Leave me your opinion!

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><p>Magic, with all it's creatures and phenomena, is still full of hidden secrets and some may never be discovered. But sometimes it happens – rare wonders, may they be of good or bad nature, form from sources which had been hidden from the world.<p>

This is the tale about one of these incidents.

Andromeda Tonks cherished the warm summer evening as she walked down to the Black Lake. She was in the middle of her end of the year exams, today she had been examined in Transfigurations, and she needed to release some tension. During revising for the exams she had made it a habit of hers to go on a swim and she was still doing it now.

The water was cool against her skin as she walked into the tiny waves after having stripped down to her bathing suit. It took her some time to get used to the temperature of the water, but then she threw herself into it, parting the element with powerful strokes. Immediately she felt how her worries fell off her mind and she just swam, letting the water carry her.

Andromeda had nearly swum to the middle of the lake as she turned into a comfortable back position, moving forward slowly, only with the help of her legs while she took a deep, relaxed breath, her eyes cherishing the sight of the mountains around her, glowing in the golden light of the evening sun. She could have continued forever – but suddenly she heard a gurgling sound behind her and she hurried to turn, her eyes widening as they perceived what was breaking the surface of the water.

The creature was nothing she had ever seen or read about before. Its grotesque face looked fairly human, while its body resembled the merpeople's, ending in a fishtail which was covered by little horns, but its skin was green and fringed, waving with the waters movement what made it look like seaweed. Long, likewise seaweed looking hair, flowed over the shoulders of the creature and it was full with cancers and other small animals that lived on the ground of the lake. Webs and long, sharp looking claws completed the look, together with the piercing black eyes.

"Lovely child," the rough voice of the creature spoke, sending shivers down her spine. "Where does your way lead you to?"

Andromeda furrowed her brow, puzzled by the question, and generally by the appearance of the... something.

"This is none of your business!"

The creature made a sound that seemed a little bit like snort, then it said:"I would like to ask you for something. It won't require much from you, my beauty."

"Why should I help you?" Andromeda asked, a derogative tone in her voice as she inspected the creature. "I don't have to do anything, I am from the house of Black and I don't owe you anything! And now go away - your ugliness blinds me."

"Your arrogance is blinding you! Do you think that the beauty on the outside is counting more than the one on the inside?!"

It sounded enraged and slightly dangerous, but Andromeda shook her head, unimpressed. What was this creature thinking, surfacing out of nowhere, insulting her?!

"Stop your ramblings!"

"Young and arrogant. You will need to learn a few lessons in your life, beauty! And I will teach it to you! You shall experience how it is to be an outcast!"

"I will go now," Andromeda murmured and started to swim, heading towards the shore while the creatures voice rose, it got louder and echoed in her head, but she could not identify the words. They sounded like they were centuries old and fear was growing inside of her, making her move faster and faster, all that she wanted was to escape from this creature.

Andromeda did not turn around to look for the creature until she had solid and dry ground under her feet again, but there was nothing in sight. The water was smooth like a mirror, like it always had been and Andromeda shook her head as she dried herself off. This had been a hallucination, surely caused by all the stress she had with her exams – she had seen not a little amount of students behaving a little bit odd. She was surely suffering under the lack of sleep and that her brain was constantly working in these days! But fortunately she would have a day off tomorrow so she could come to rest again...

Andromeda had already forgotten about the odd incident with the creature by the next morning as she walked over the school grounds again, this time only to have a short walk to refresh her head after studying for Potions, wearing her favourite dress with a silk stole wrapped around her shoulders. She held her face into the sun and took a deep breath, but suddenly she registered that something was feeling queer.

The air smelled different and as she walked she felt herself being drawn to the shore of the Black Lake. Its water was licking temptingly at the sand, it seemed to whisper, to call for her and her legs moved on their own as they carried her towards the water and then into the lake without hesitating. The water felt much warmer than it had the previous day and therefore threw she herself forward and she dived under the surface after the first few steps, not caring about her dress.

A few powerful strokes brought her into deeper water and she smiled, feeling how the water embraced her, caressed her skin and she felt secure, comfortable even, until a strange sensation grew in her legs. Panic started to rise inside of Andromeda as her legs went numb within a second and she opened her eyes, surprised that the water did not hurt in her eyes, but what she saw as she looked down her body this was completely forgotten.

Her legs had disappeared, or rather transformed, into a long, elegant fishtail with greenish scales and Andromeda opened her mouth for a silent scream, but she covered her mouth in surprise as indeed a sound left her throat. And she was able to breathe – as she groped along her neck her fingertips felt something like gills. Her stole was floating in front of her face, had tangled around her arms and Andromeda pushed it up, taking deep breaths in to calm herself down.

This could not be real, this had to be a bad dream, yes, a nightmare! She was still in her dorm at the Slytherin dungeons, in her bed, asleep and soon she would wake up and everything would be good, everything would be normal...

Her eyes scanned her surroundings and she would have loved to cry right now, but the water prevented this. A field of seaweed was visible a few metres away and she gulped hard as she heard the voice of the creature whisper:"You shall be transformed into a mermaid every time your skin touches water. This curse shall not removed until the day you learn to judge all living things without looking for their outer appearance and when you manage to make somebody love you because of your essence, not of your beauty. Until then you would better do with hiding your little tail from your friends – you are a half breed now, one of these things they hate."


End file.
